the word

i had an amazing victory today.

there is one word that invokes fear and trembling into every military spouse (well, there are a few, "deployment" and "pcs" probably being the top two...). but the word of today is a necessary evil. it is something the civilian world thinks they understand, but they do not. the word is: tricare (can you hear the thunder in the distance as you read this?)

tricare is military insurance, and is notoriously worse to deal with than even regular insurance companies. i have never had to use their services and have been dreading the day since i began hearing the horrific stories about this establishment.

i have never had to use them... until today. and i have to say, it was not nearly as bad as i have anticipated (though i have been warned that this was simply a fluke). i had a rather complicated question, and though it took me over a half hour on the phone, i finally discovered the answer... and the answer was much much better than i had hoped for. (for one thing, the primary care manager they had assigned me was TWO HOURS away from me... i asked if there were any in grand rapids, she typed for a bit, then said, "how far is cedar springs from you? we do have one there." cedar springs happens to be my little town of a few thousand people. fantastic. though, i have to ask... why not assign me the one in cedar springs from the BEGINNING?)

i am glad my first experience was a good one... it calms my fears for the future. baby steps, baby steps...